MANILA,
DECEMBER 18, 2011 (TRIBUNE) What finally pushed
Noynoy to throw all pretensions about independence among co-equal
branches of government and the rule of law out of the window and go
hammer and tongs against Chief Justice Renato Corona cannot be helped
but point to the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) to lift the temporary
restraining order (TRO) on a decision of the Presidential Agrarian
Reform Council (PARC) that effectively set into motion the distribution
of the Hacienda Luisita land of the Aquino-Cojuangco clan of Noynoy.
The decision for land distribution has long been deemed carried since
by all definitions, the vast Hacienda Luisita estate sticks out like a
sore thumb on the land reform program, being among the biggest farm land
in the country that had resisted distribution despite the law that
clearly requires that.
A loan taken out by the Cojuangcos from the state-pension fund
Government Service Insurance System for the purchase of the estate in
1957 also stipulated land distribution 10 years after the loan release
that fell in 1967 which the hacienda owners never honored.
In 1967, the Cojuangcos refused to distribute the land, arguing there
were no tenants on the hacienda which was the same argument the
Cojuangcos used when the Manila Regional Trial Court ordered the Tarlac
Development Corp. (Tadeco) to surrender Hacienda Luisita to the Ministry
of Agrarian Reform.
When Cory Aquino became president, the stock distribution option
(SDO) was implemented in the hacienda, with the Cojuangcos again evading
actual land distribution. In 2005, when the PARC issued a resolution
revoking the SDO, the Cojuangco-Aquinos went to the high court and filed
a petition for TRO. The TRO lasted for six years until the recent SC
decision.
After the SC issued the decision to uphold the PARC order for land
distribution, coming from a body which Noynoy perceives as a creation of
former President Gloria Arroyo to persecute his family when his mother —
former President Cory Aquino — was still alive, Noynoy's most prominent
reaction was his demand for just compensation for the land owners.
His exact reply was "Let us not forget that under existing agrarian
reform policies, we are pushing for two objectives: first is the
empowerment of the farmers, and then enough capital should be left such
that there is also just compensation for the land owners."
The PARC decision that the SC upheld and ordered promulgated provided
that Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), the corporation formed as a way of
circumventing the agrarian reform law, immediately set aside 4,915
hectares of the 6,453-hectare hacienda for land distribution and P 1.33
billion in compensation for farm worker beneficiaries.
The high court's decision on the Hacienda Luisita land distribution
came in 14-0 which means that Corona cannot be in any way carry sole
responsibility for it. Noynoy's friendly justice, Lourdes Sereno,
however, wanted a higher price by way of the farmers compensating the
Cojuangco-Aquinos.
Farm groups seeking the immediate implementation of the SC order had
said the direct gain of Noynoy's immediate family, which has a 67
percent controlling stake in HLI had estimated gains of P2.7 billion
from the sale of several parcels of land, including 200 hectares in 1995
that became the Luisita Industrial Park; and 80 hectares portion of the
estate used for Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTex) road network.
In a way, Noynoy speaks the truth when he said that the effort to
remove Corona is part of his effort to dismantle the remnants of the
Arroyo apparatus, that which is causing his family's reduced economic
power.
The acts of Noynoy thus are ushering in a dangerous precedent in
government when the personal interest of the President is at stake and
the president abuses his powers merely to ensure that his personal
interests are served.
Popularity or the perception of it can be invariably used and
exploited to defy the law and impose his whims which is nothing about
the supposed crusade for a clean government.
Ousting Corona would give Noynoy a lot of elbow room at the SC, particularly for the HLI conflict.
The decision on HLI and the other rulings of the tribunal that the
Palace believes were lopsided against Noynoy were the primary root of
the oust Corona move.
It wouldn't be hard to guess what a Noynoy court less Corona will have as its first agenda.
Chief News Editor:
Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011
by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
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